Fleet graphics is the term given to the presence of text, drawings, logos, and the like, particularly advertising matter, appearing on the sides of vehicles, such as trailers and vans.
Initially, all fleet side graphics were painted upon the vehicle. This method heavily restricted what types of graphics could be achieved, for example, almost all of these graphics were simple line art work, such as logos and type. Photographic type images, while not impossible to be provided were so labour intensive that they were only produced in very rare circumstances. Painted graphics were very time consuming to apply and remove and resulted in a great amount of downtime of the vehicles. Further, painted graphics had a short lifespan when compared to todays more modem vinyl based materials.
During the 1980's, new self-adhesive vinyl products were introduced to the fleet vehicle market. These materials, along with specific production methods such as screen printing and cad cam computerised cutting allowed for the mass production of vibrantly coloured and pattern specific line art graphics. These methods, when combined with the extended lifespan of these new products, allowed many sign making businesses to get involved in the business of fleet graphics as a secondary product line. It also provided customers with graphics which were color 2 and design consistent, Today, approximately 85 to 90 percent of all vehicle graphics are produced on vinyl materials.
Recently, improved methods within the screen printing field, combined with other new technologies, such as ink-jetting and digital imaging provides the ability to produce large format photographic type images. These images can be produced in relatively large sizes to cover the entire side of a trailer such as one having side surface dimensions of approximately 16 m.times.3 m. This technology has particularly interested sufficient companies who own their own fleets of vehicles and who advertise on their trailer sides and have recognized the significance of viewer impressions generated by such vehicles.
For example M.I.S.C., a major supplier of circulation statistics to the outdoor advertising industry, has stated that the average truck in an urban centre such as Toronto or Montreal generates about 12,000,000 viewer impressions per year. This use of such fleet graphics is comparable to the relatively more expensive billboards found in these same markets. When compared, as a media venue, to traditional outdoor billboard advertising, these vehicles become additionally valuable in terms of their potential to replace billboards. Many private fleet owners have realised the untapped value of these fleet graphic rolling billboards and have taken advantage of these new technologies. The fleet owners have decorated their vehicle fleets, for example, with four colour photographic images to help sell their products and/or services.
Notwithstanding that fleet graphics on commercial vehicles provide value as an advertising medium, there are several factors which make truck and trailer side advertising unacceptable to many advertisers. Notwithstanding that the media space is available to the fleet owners free of charge, since they own the trucks, many companies with private fleets have chosen not to place, for example, such large four colour photographic type advertisements on the vehicles. In most cases this is because of unfavourable factors relating to the production and the installation of the graphics themselves. The lack of economics of scale and the permanence of the installation techniques, at present, constitute a significant hindrance.
In order to be cost-effective, self-adhesive large format four colour graphics must be produced in relatively large quantities and, for example, need to remain on the vehicles for a significant minimum period of time. For graphics produced using standard production techniques, the general rule of thumb is that an advertiser to be cost-effective must decorate at least twenty trailers. It is also an accepted axiom that due to significant labour and downtime costs associated with installation and removal of these graphics, the images must remain on the vehicles for a minimum of five to seven years. These factors thus dictate that an advertiser has to be willing to produce a large number of identical advertisements and be satisfied to retain them on trailers for such an extended period of time. Therefore, only institutional types of advertisers, who own their own fleets are able to readily take advantage of this opportunity.
Those advertisers who do not own their own fleet vehicles are, understandably, justified in being leery of tying themselves to a specific fleet carrier for a relatively protracted period of time. However, such advertisers recognize the value of modem fleet graphics as applied to vehicles.
Fleet graphics currently produced involve graphics present on sheets of self-adhesive vinyl materials adhered directly to the truck or trailer body. Thus, the graphics are, in effect, permanently affixed to the vehicle and cannot be readily removed intact, stored and, optionally, re-used, if desired.
In an attempt to overcome the aforesaid disadvantages of small scale economics and unacceptably long periods of time that the same graphic work must remain on the vehicle, consideration has been given to use time systems. Such frame systems would provide for the fleet graphics vinyl coated member to be fixed to the side of the vehicle and allow for subsequent vinyl material removal.
However, there are several problems associated with use of such frame systems which have to be overcome to be acceptable to the industry. The most notable of these problems relate to the physical aspects of a frame, its relation to the vehicle and the governmental rules and regulations associated with the transport industry relating to equipment. A workable frame system has to be of a light weight, low profile and be effectively secured to the vehicle. It also has to effectively capture the graphic within the frame dimensions in order to provide the required degree of safety. A further major problem relates to the large sizes of framing systems required to completely cover a large, e.g., 7 m long truck body or a trailer which can be as long as 16 m. Smaller frame systems, 1 m.times.2 m, have been used for many years on vehicles, such as delivery vans, buses and streetcars, but these only allow for the mounting of small card type slip-in posters.
Such frame systems that have been developed, to-date, have used several layers of steel as their perimeter frame. Such frames are thus heavy and bulky and have only been used in sizes of about 1 m.times.2 m on smaller vehicles.
Thus, to-date, those companies that have tried to develop a framing system large enough to service larger vehicles have been hampered by the following factors, viz:
(i) high cost; PA1 (ii) large size (profile) and weight; PA1 (iii) the need for the installation of a large and heavy perimeter frame system; and PA1 (iv) the requirement of installing the graphic within a perimeter system, which is time consuming and physically cumbersome. PA1 (a) the economic requirement that large numbers of vehicles must be involved; PA1 (b) the generally unacceptable period of time for which the advertisement must remain on the vehicle; PA1 (c) the inability to easily move the advertisement to other markets; PA1 (d) the long downtimes required to install and remove adhesive type graphics; PA1 (e) the tremendous expense associated with installation and removal; the installation of the graphics must be done indoors at temperatures above 60 degrees F; and PA1 (g) the inability of advertisers to effect seasonal or promotional advertising. PA1 (i) will allow the .graphics to be either screen printed or ink-jotted; PA1 (ii) will allow use of substrates that are non-adhesive and, therefore, removable; PA1 (iii) Will allow the graphic images to be stored and reused; PA1 (iv) will allow the actual graphics to be shipped to other markets for reuse; PA1 (v) will provide graphics which can be used in a given market for either short or long term programs; PA1 (vi) will allow the graphics to be installed and removed in minutes and can thus greatly reduce costs. PA1 (i) will allow installations to be done at any time in any location; PA1 (ii) wherein the graphics will not damage truck or trailer surfaces; PA1 (iii) wherein the advertisers graphics can be placed optionally over any existing adhesive style graphics; PA1 (iv) wherein there will be virtually no down-time associated with installing graphics using this system of the invention, and PA1 (v) which provides an extremely light weight system which has a very low profile, and may, optionally, protrude no further off the vehicle body side than the vehicle indicator signals.
There, thus, remains a need for a vehicle graphics system which satisfactorily and economically overcomes the following disadvantages of the prior art, viz: